Like the hangover throb that won't go away no matter how many painkillers you toss back, 'Beverly Hills' pretty much cements itself into your cerebellum after a couple of spins. This would be a good thing if the lead-off single to Weezer's new album was the brilliant return to form all the press releases say it is. But it's not.

'Beverly Hills' is 'Buddy Holly' at about half of the pace, and after a full-frontal lobotomy. Over a 'We Will Rock You' thump-thump-clap, the band burrow into your cranium by repeating the same wretched chord progression all the way through the song. Rivers Cuomo mumbles over the verses vaguely about aspiring to a higher tax bracket and then joins the barroom singalong chorus. Cue vocorder solo.

The overall result sounds like it was created in a lab by evil scientists with the express purpose in mind for it to soundtrack keg parties on College campuses, or to be blasted from lowriders filled with the local mullet population. So it fits that the video was shot at the Playboy mansion and the song itself sounds better the drunker you are. Sure, it's catchy, but then so was 'I Love Rock 'N Roll' by Joan Jett, which is a song it closely resembles, minus any imagination at all and Jett in biker leathers circa 1981.

'Beverly Hills' is a bland, one-dimensional radio biscuit, and it may mark Weezer's completion in their cross-over from geek-rock to frat-rock.